Gillard set for Phnom Penh summit

PM Julia Gillard will leave Australia for Phnom Penh ahead of bilateral meetings and a gala dinner. Source: AAP

TRADE, global health issues, finance, education, security and energy will all be on the table when Prime Minister Julia Gillard attends the East Asia Summit in Cambodia this week.

Ms Gillard leaves Australia on Monday for Phnom Penh ahead of bilateral meetings and a gala dinner for leaders attending the summit, including US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Australia will push for a new regional trade deal at the summit, where 16 leaders are expected to agree to talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The RCEP would involve the 10 members of ASEAN plus Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and India.

The agreement would bring together existing ASEAN free-trade agreements, including the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA which is being seen as a benchmark for the broader deal.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson would not put a timeframe on the new agreement.

"Once you put timeframes on the completion of negotiations that haven't yet started you end up being wrong," Dr Emerson said.

"The RCEP proposal ... is one pathway to the mountaintop of a free trade area for Asia and the Pacific and we'll be in there vigorously negotiating for it."

Ms Gillard is expected to meet with Mr Obama and other proponents of another trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, on Tuesday.

Bilateral meetings with leaders from China, Japan, Brunei and Thailand are also likely.

A sharp focus on regional security will be a feature at the summit after annual talks by ASEAN leaders on Sunday.

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said on Sunday the bloc was ready to present a united front to China about how to deal with tensions about the South China Sea, where rival claims have existed for decades.

China claims sovereign rights to nearly all of the sea but Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims.

Human rights were high on the agenda for ASEAN leaders on the weekend, with the issue of ethnic violence against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim population in strong focus, along with the development of a human rights declaration for the bloc's 600 million people.

An Australian-led initiative to fight malaria in the region is expected to be adopted by EAS leaders.

The summit wraps up on Tuesday.

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